


A Different Perspective

by Silex



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Reminiscing, Trick or Treat: Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-12-31 08:17:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21127760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silex/pseuds/Silex
Summary: LeFou didn't just tag along with Gaston, they were friends. Now, having returned from the castle alone, LeFou feels lost and with everyone else celebrating the return of Prince Adam and the curse over the old castle being lifted LeFou doesn't know what to say or do. It feels wrong to be so sad when everyone else is so happy.





	A Different Perspective

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Missy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/gifts).

LeFou had known that Gaston wasn’t going to come back from the cursed castle and there were times that he hated himself for fleeing the way he had. It wasn’t like he would have been able to keep up with Gaston, though he’d tried. He’d been the last one to leave, returning after having fled with the others when he realized that Gaston wasn’t with them anymore.

Not like he’d expected Gaston to run away. He’d hoped though. You didn’t find a friend like Gaston easily, so you waited for him.

When the sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the old, supposedly abandoned castle, revealing that it was no longer a crumbling ruin he’d known.

Something had happened there, something that couldn’t easily be explained.

He’d trudged back home through the woods, frightened, but not of wild animals or monsters, or furniture, though he ended up picking splinters out of uncomfortable places for days after being ganged up on by literal claw-footed chairs.

He was afraid of what the castle’s miraculous transformation meant.

Gaston wasn’t coming back.

What had happened to the castle wasn’t the sort of thing that happened without a reason.

His hunting companion and drinking buddy was gone for good.

Gaston was brash, a braggart, but rightfully so. A man worked hard to get a reputation like that, to be so impressive.

More importantly Gaston had let LeFou be his friend, confiding in him, allowing him to tag along on hunting trips, even if LeFou never managed to shoot so much as a duck. Gaston had tried to teach him though, kneeling next to him in the reeds, carefully holding his hands on the rifle and helping him line up the shot. Gaston never laughed at how short or clumsy LeFou was, never chided him for stumbling and frightening the game.

Sometimes Gaston would go so far as to laugh it off and suggest that with such terrible hunting the day was best spent enjoying the outdoors.

With Gaston around you never had to buy drinks, not because everyone was willing to treat him, but because he’d always pay for the first round, and the last, and any in between if he thought people weren’t having enough fun.

He was loud and obnoxious, an over-grown boy who never planned on growing up and he’d been LeFou’s friend without reserve.

And now LeFou didn’t even have a grave to leave flowers at, or pheasant tails and a set of antlers, which he thought Gaston would have liked far more than flowers.

Everyone else was celebrating Prince Adam’s return and his marriage to Belle, while LeFou sat alone in a corner of the tavern and quietly mourned while nursing his drink.

“You alright?” A soft voice asked over the din of the exuberant crowd.

Claudette gracefully sashayed through the crowd, handing out steins of beer, somehow knowing who had ordered what amid all of the confusion. Or maybe they were all so happy that none of them cared about getting the wrong drink.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine, never better,” LeFou raised his mug and downed it in one go, “Here’s to the prince.”

Or that was what he tried to say between sputtering. He’d somehow managed to inhale foam from the beer and it was all he could do to keep from sneezing.

Claudette smiled and sat down across from him.

“You’ve just looked so sad lately,” she sighed, “We all are though.”

“Sure you are,” LeFou rolled his eyes, “With the beast gone and Prince Adam back. Plenty to be sad for.”

“He wouldn’t be back if not for Gaston though, right?” Claudette smiled dreamily, “He was the one that killed the beast and broke the curse so Prince Adam could reclaim his castle, right? You were there.”

Yes, he had been there, but he hadn’t talked about it, nor had any of the others. Their defeat had been humiliating, and as crazy as anything old Maurice might have dreamed up in his wildest moments. It made sense that the villagers were filling things on their own because none of the men who’d actually been to the castle were willing to speak about what had happened.

“I was there,” he agreed, “But I wasn’t _there_. I didn’t see what happened.”

And he was glad for that. When he and Gaston went looking for the boy who’d gone missing while picking mushrooms last fall and found what the wolves had left…The beast would have certainly done far worse. He didn’t want to think of Gaston that way, the man deserved better.

“No beast would have stood a chance against him,” Claudette said firmly, then her expression softened, “So while everyone celebrates the wedding maybe we can step away quietly and have our own little celebration for Gaston. You’re always with him, you’ve seen firsthand all the stories he’s told and maybe you can tell me some of them, once more for old time’s sake.”

Sure, she wanted to hear about Gaston, that was just what he was, Gaston’s friend.

“Sure, what do you want to hear about?” he sighed, not sure how to motion for her to bring him another drink when she was sitting down in front of him.

“Any story,” she smiled, “I’m sure you have a favorite. Or even tell me what you were doing during those hunts. You were so lucky to be with him out there in the wilderness, I would have given anything to be there with you. The way Gaston would talk and you’d back him up on those winter nights, it was like being there. I’ll miss that so much. And him of course.”

“Would you…” LeFou couldn’t believe what he was doing and ended up just letting himself talk before he could think and mess things up, “I mean Gaston and I were always out together so I know all of the game trails and the best places to hunt. Maybe I could show you while I tell you, relive things while we reminisce.”

Claudette’s eyes went wide, “Out in the woods? You’re so brave LeFou!”

No one had ever called him brave before, other than Gaston at least. Gaston had constantly commented on LeFou’s bravery as the only one willing to accompany him on all of his hunts. Alongside Gaston LeFou had stared down bears and man-eating wolves, even stood his ground against a wild boar. Holding the spear steady in case Gaston’s shot didn’t kill it.

“Sure, I can take you to the lake where we’d hunt ducks together,” LeFou offered. It wasn’t far and it was where all the men went hunting so it wasn’t anything exceptional.

“Really?” Her eyes lit up, “Oh that’s amazing, it’ll be just like actually being on one of Gaston’s adventures!”

Duck hunting wasn’t much of an adventure, but he’d never considered it from Claudette’s position. She’d never been out in the woods, only heard about it and going someplace new was an adventure, wasn’t it?

“Sure, when do you want to go?” LeFou was amazed at how this was going, such a long conversation and he’d not stumbled, not once glanced over his shoulder for encouragement from the missing Gaston.

“Oh! Can we go tomorrow?” She took his hands in hers and leaned over the table, “I want to see and hear about it all, and you too. What did you do when you were out there with Gaston?”

He hadn’t expected that, not at all.

For the first time since Gaston’s death he managed a smile without a hint of bitterness, “I didn’t do much really, just helped track game and set traps and whatever else Gaston needed me to do.”

“But you were _there_,” Claudette said with breathless wonder, “And you’re going to take me there too!”

Someone called for another round of drinks and Claudette rose, practically dancing her way through the crowd.

Going for a walk to the lake wasn’t much, but it was something.

He wasn’t going to get his hopes up, not with a girl like Claudette, but he’d still be there and so would she and maybe that was more than something.

“Tomorrow!” She called out above the cheerful din.

“Tomorrow!” He agreed, raising his empty glass as though in toast.

The way she looked at him in that moment made him want to join in the dancing.

That look, it was definitely more than his imagination and that was something.

It was an adventure, because that was what going someplace new was, right?


End file.
